Mechanical musical instrument.



merrain ltlallllhlliltl FFIE@ HARRY J. ANDERSON, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOS, flSSGN-QR T0 NEWMAN BROS. C0., OF

CHECAGO,

accenni.

Specification of Letters Estant.

Patented May 27, 1913.

Application led May 13, 1911. Serial No. 626,985.

To all whom t may concern;

Be it known that l, HARRY J. Aubusson, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of illinois, have invented a certain new and useful improvement in Mechanical Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificanon.

This invention is an improved const-ruction of the pneumatic actions of musical instruments, and has been devised more especially for use in sell2 playing instruments and in piano players.

AThe invention is fully set 'forth in the specification given below, and it consists in the novel construction of' parts and devices and'novel combinations of parts and devices hereinafter described.

ln the accompanying drawings Figurel is a, plan. view of the board carrying the valves and valve seats, part being broken away; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional viewl on the. line 2--2 of Fig. l, also showing a connection board in place abovethc valve board; Fie. 3- is an elevational view showing a number of tiers of pne-uinatics mounted in position, this figure being taken from the lett of Fig. 2; F ig. 4t is a cross section taken on the line if1 of Fig. 3, showingthe manner of assembling the pneumatic-s in tiers and also showing the main wind chest, and the primary and secondary passages leading therefrom.

ln said drawings 1-1 are the usual pneumatics for actuating key striking devices 2-2. Said pneumatics connect by means of a passage-way 3 with a Valve chest 1.

Mounted in chest Il are valves 5, governingy seats 6 and 7 controlling respectively the passages leading to the atmosphere and to a suction Wind chest, said suction wind chest being designated as 8. Said seats 6 and 7 are the extremities of struck up metal plates 621 and 7 a which have annular langes for attaching the plates'- to the body of the apparatus, and dished portions extending toward the valve and then upset so as to leave a fairly sharp but smooth seat. Valves 5 carry depending stems 9 having heads 'which contact with diaphragins 1G for controlling the position of the valves 5. These valves also l.have upwardly extending stems 9,

'stems 9 and 9a both having guide pieces 23 and The space below the diaphragm 10 is normally exhausted of air by means of a pin hole in said diaphragm and is in direct connection with a passage. 11 leading to the atmosphere but normally closed by means or a prim ry valve 12. The primary valves-12 are also controlled by pneumatic action, there boing a stein 13 depending from veach valve, contacting with a diaphragm 14- in chamber 14a. Diaphragm 14 is normally depressed as in the case of diaphragm 10, there being a passageway' 15 leading from below diaphragm 14 to tube 16, passageway 17 in bleed chest 18 to tube 19 which connects with the usual tracker hoard. A

connection exists between the wind chest 8 and chamber 14?' indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and shown in plan in the broken away portion of Fig. 1. The passages 17 are normally exhausted through pin hole openings in disks 25 which cover the opening be tween the passage 17 and a slot 26 in a strip 27 which is attached to the board 18 and runs across the ends of the passages 17, plac-.

ing them all in connection witha passageway 28 which leads through the end of the board 18 to a connection with passageway 32.

1n the operation of this device when an opening in the music roll corresponding to any tube 19 places such tube in connection.

with the atmosphere, atmospheric pressure is introduced beneath the diaphragm 14 disturbing the equilibrium of said diaphragm causing it to lift and thereby open valve 12. frtinospheric pressure is thus introduced below diaphragm 10 and valve 5 is accordingly operated to close the connection` between pneumatic 1 and the atmosphere .and open the connection between the pneumatic and the suction in chest 8, thus operating the pneumatic and key striking mechanism. Wind chest 8 'iinaintained at a low pressure by connection to an ordinary bellows which is made through tube 30.

Particular attention is called to the arrangement oi valves by which both the primary valve and the secondary valve 5 are carried by the same board 20, and also to the construction oli' the valve 5 with its accompanying stems and guide plates, and

also the arrangement of for said valves Immediately below the board 2t) is a secon board 21, to which the pncumatics are divand fl, it seen that in accordance with my construction thcvpneumatics are` arranged in VKtiers in such a manner that they are rigidly attached together into one structure, so that they may be handled and installed as a uniti A t the same time the structure may be readily taken apart for inspection or repair. The structure is also cheaply manufactured and readily assembled. As shown in Fig. 3 the boards E20 and 21 are wider than necessary to accommodate the width of the pneumatics. Along the edge so formed blocks 31 are inserted of a thickness suliicientto allow for the depth of the pneumatics. Blocks 31 are wedge shaped as shown in Fig., 4, so that the complete unit composed of blocks 3l, 21, 22 and O'prescnts a horizontal surface for the attachment of the neat succeeding tiervof 'pneumatics The several tiers oi pneumatics, together with the board 1S above referred to are then connected together by one or more bolts such as uniting them into a rigid structure.

Shown below the pneiunatics is a wind chest 36 carried on a metal plate 35, which in turn rests upon the frame of ther piano. The pneumatics are fastened to the chest 36 by means of bolts 34 passing through the various tiers of pneumatics and the wind chest into the plate 35. The chest and pneumatics are t-hen secured to the piano by means of lag screws such as 3l). l`he chamber within the chest is designated as 3T. rthis connects with the bellows .on the one hand by the opening 38, and with the various individual wind chests tl, by the passageway 30, while the chambers le and the passage 26 are connected to 37 by means of the passage 39..

lt will be seen that two ways are shown of connecting the windway 14 with the snc tion, one through passage 32 and the'other through passage 30, windway 8 and the passage shown in Fig. 1. One or the other oit these connections may be omitted it' desired.

lt will be understood that; while the ccnstruction shown and described in this specification is the preferred Lt'orm cit my inven- Leeaaea tion, modications may be made without departing' freni thel spiritv of my invention. What I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patentis: l. Q y

1. lin a device of the class described, a plurality of tiers of pneumatics, valves for said pneumatics, mechanisinfor operating said valves, a bleed chest mounted above-the top tier of pneumatics, having a plurality of passages therein., having an outlet from each or' said passages adapted to be connected to a tracker board and an outlet- `leading to said valve operating mechanism, amember provided with a groove carried by said bleed chest and disks having restricted openings which communicate with said passages and said groove. L

"2. In a devicevof the class described in combination, an action chest comprising top and bottom boards, a row of pneumatics at tached to the bottom board of said chest, valves for said pneumatics mounted on the top. board of Said Chest,` mechanism for operl" ating said valves and a bleed chest mounted immediately above said top board but spaced therefrom, said bleed chesthaving transverse passages each of which is provided with an outlet for connection with a tracker board, and also with an outlet for connection to the mechanism for operating said valves, said mechanism being mounted on said bottom board of the action chest'.

3. ln a device of the class described in combination, a structure having a wedge shaped piece with its inclined face upward, a second wedge shaped pie'ce with its in clined face resting against the inclined face of the tirst mentioned piece, said second wedge being :Xtended laterally of the strueture, and having a plurality ot' pneumatics attached to its inclined surface, anda substantially rectangular block above said second mentioned piece having primary and secondary valves mounted thereon, said rectangular block being spaced from said sec ond mentioned piece by spacing strips whereby windways are formed for said valves and said pneumatics.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 28th day of April A. D., 1911.

HARRY J. ADERSN.

Witnesses A. Linn Jonas, Hazen JoNns. 

